The Story of Joseph part 1: Lemonade
[audio:LemonadeMix.mp3|titles=Lemonade|artists=Christian St John]
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Recorded August 15, 2010
My Notes:
Love the summer… garage sales, sun, ice creams, sitting outside on deck, shorts, no socks, and the list goes on.
The other week saw something that has become a symbol of summer here in North America… 2 little girls selling lemonade on the side of road. Now I’m not big fan of buying and drinking stuff made by 5 year olds (maybe mom gave a hand) but they looked so cute that I just had to spend 50 cents to buy a glass of lemonade… I may be cheap, but I didn’t even haggle with them… I gave them a toonie.
I was reading that in the heat of summer there is no other drink that sells as well as lemonade. But we live a in strange world where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.
So some people, let’s call them the hardcore lemonaders, refuse to buy the stuff you buy in the supermarket, no they make their own.
As I was thinking about this message it occurred to me that to make lemonade there is one essential ingredient… well two actually – to make lemonade you need water and… ???
Lemons.
This morning I am going to do something a little bit different. Today I am going to be part pastor and part chef. In this bag I have lemon.
Now I’m going to make lemonade. Cut the lemon, squeeze the lemon juice out and voila, you have lemonade.
Man that’s sour. I can see all of you are empathizing with me.
But Pastor Chris… that’s not lemonade that’s lemon juice. Of course I know that, but I did all of that and sacrificed my taste buds to emphasize the fact that neat lemon juice isn’t the most thirst quenching drink.
There’s something missing…
I have heard it said, as have many of you I’m sure that when life throws you lemons, you should make lemonade. A good idea then is to know how to make lemonade… the hardcore lemonaders would say it’s an art form, so I’ll do my best this morning.
But before I show you all how to make lemonade, I want us to look at someone in the Bible who had so many lemons thrown at me that I’m surprised that he didn’t become the world’s very first lemonade magnate.
(Today’s lesson based on Genesis 37, 39, 40, 41:43)
The story I want to look at today, which is found in the book of Genesis, is the story of a guy called Joseph. Now his story plays out over several chapters so for time reasons today I am going to do a whirlwind tour through his life to show what he did when he found himself knee deep in lemons.
The Bible tells us that Joseph was seventeen when he is introduced to us in Genesis 37 which means he would be old enough to drive a car these days. We quickly learn that he had ten older brothers, at that time he was the youngest son of a man called Jacob.
Because Joseph was the youngest son, his father spent more time with him, and he became very special to him. So Jacob had a special robe made for Joseph, a very beautiful robe that showed the father’s love for Joseph.
All of Joseph’s older brothers saw this and they got very jealous and began to dislike him because they thought his father loved him more, and because he got the special coat. They got so jealous they couldn’t even say a kind word to him.
This is bad news for Joseph but things were only going to get worse. One day Joseph had a dream, and he went to go tell his brothers. He said, “Guess what? Last night I had a strange dream. We were tying up bunches of grain out in the field when suddenly my bunch stood up, while all of yours gathered around and bowed to me.”
The brothers looked at each other in disgust, but Joseph continued. “Then I had another dream that the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down to me.”
“Who do you think you are?” The brothers said. “Do you think that you are better than all of us? Do you think that we would ever bow down to you?” This made the brothers dislike Joseph even more.
A few days later Joseph’s father asked him to check on his brothers. His brothers, who were shepherds, were with their flocks in fields quite a distance away from home. So Joseph went to find them.
When the brothers saw Joseph in the distance, they made a plan to kill him. But when Reuben, Joseph’s oldest brother heard this he said, “Let’s not kill him, just throw him in a well out here in the field.” He said this because he was secretly planning to come back and rescue Joseph when the other brothers had left.
So when Joseph came to them, they took off his beautiful robe and they threw him in an empty well.
And thus begins Joseph’s collection of life-lemons.
Well, s little while later a group of people came by that were wanting to sell some things in Egypt. One of the brothers spoke up, “Why don’t we sell him to these people, this way we never have to see him again, and we don’t have to kill him.”
The other brothers liked this idea, so they sold him to the people who were going to Egypt. And the lemons just keep piling up.
Unfortunately Reuben had been working and hadn’t seen what happened. When he returned to the well he noticed that Joseph was gone.
The rest of the brothers, to hide what they had done, took Joseph’s beautiful robe and dipped it in animal blood and took it back to their father. When the father saw this he cried, “Some animal has killed my son.” And he cried for many days, so much that nobody could comfort him.
Well down in Egypt Joseph is taken to the slave dealership, and is eventually sold as a slave to an important man named Potiphar, an assistant to the Pharaoh of Egypt.
Joseph gets a break and this is the first time in the story that we see some of the lemons taken by God and made into lemonade.
Genesis 39: 2-6
2 The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything…
The Lord was with Joseph and He helped him do everything right. So Potiphar made him his helper, and eventually put him in charge of everything that he owned. God was with Joseph and took the lemons that had come his way and turned them into lemonade, metaphorically speaking.
But as life sometimes goes he gets handed another bag of lemons when Potiphar’s wife begins to make advances on Joseph.
39: 6-12
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”
8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
Potiphar’s wife, knowing she wasn’t getting anywhere began screaming and then proceeded to lie about Joseph – In fact she accused him of trying to rape her. Sounds like an episode of Desperate Housewives.
Potiphar believing his wife burned with anger the Bible tells us and had Joseph thrown into prison. Now this wasn’t one of those country club prisons that we sometimes see here in the western world. This was a dark, smelly place… the one place you would have tried to avoid at all costs.
Lemon upon lemon…
But the text tells us that the Lord was still with Joseph in jail, and something amazing happened.
Genesis 39: 20-23
while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
Joseph was put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. Not only that but he was put in charge of everything that went on there. And the Bible tells us that the warden never worried because the Lord was with Joseph and helped him do everything right.
I just want to stop here a minute and just have us all imagine what that would look like in this day and age? Can you imagine if there were godly people out there who worked so diligently and were blessed by the Lord that others trusted them with all that they had?
Potiphur had trusted Joseph with all that he had. The prison warden had trusted Joseph with all that he had. Why?
Personally I believe it was because Joseph refused to become weighed down with the lemons being thrown his way, and he refused to allow the lemons to dictate his actions and faith. Instead he allowed God to come into the situation and make lemonade.
Well, after Joseph had been in jail for some time a cupbearer and baker to Pharaoh had been sent there. One night each of them had a dream. They told their dreams to Joseph and he told the cupbearer that he would soon be let out of jail. “Please tell Pharaoh about me, and ask him to get me out of here.” Joseph said.
However, when the cupbearer was freed he forgot about what Joseph had done. So Joseph stayed in jail for two more years… can you imagine what Joseph must have been feeling, forsaken, forgotten… but not alone… because God was with Him still. Jospeh may have felt like he was still holding the lemons but God was about to make the sweetest lemonade that Joseph had ever tasted.
One day Pharaoh had a dream, and nobody could explain it to him. He was besides himself with grief as his wise men and magicians failed to enlighten him as to his dreams meaning.
Then the cupbearer remembered what Joseph had done for him, and Joseph was brought from the prison to the palace of the Pharaoh.
“Can you understand dreams?” Pharaoh asked. “I can’t, but God helps me.” Joseph replied. After Pharaoh had told him his dream Joseph explained, “God is warning you. There will be seven years when nothing will grow and there won’t be any food for anyone.”
“What can I do?” Pharaoh asked. “God has shown you what to do. There will be seven years before the bad years that will be very good. So good that there will be extra food for everyone. So you should save a little bit of each years harvest, that way you will have enough to get you through the bad years.” Joseph said.
Pharaoh believed all that Joseph told him, and put him in charge of all the land of Egypt.
Genesis 41: 39-44
39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. 40 You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”
Joseph in Charge of Egypt
41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, [c] and men shouted before him, “Make way [d] !” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.
44 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.”
What a result!
Here is a guy who has been hated by his brothers, sold into slavery by those very same brothers, falsely accused of rape, and thrown into the worst prison in the land, and yet every time he gets life-lemons thrown at him God reaches down from heaven and in his mercy and grace makes Josephs life-lemons into some sweet, sweet lemonade.
So after all that let’s make some lemonade, I know you’ve all been waiting for me to show off my culinary skills. Squeeze lemon juice into a bowl, add water, and then the best part add some sugar to taste. (Taste it) A simple way to take something that is bitter and sour, and not very refreshing, and turn it into something thirst quenching.
Last week I and the youth interns took some of the youth to Rock the River and during the concert the announcer would come on stage and throw some prizes into the crowd. So prompted by this I feel I need to throw something out to you guys this morning.
Yup, you’ve guessed it… lemons.
Now you hold in your hands lemons, physical, tangible lemons. Often the lemons that come our way aren’t physical but spiritual.
With the physical lemons you hold in your hands what are you going to do? Well, I’ve just shown you how to make lemonade, so it would be good if you guys went home today and made some lemonade.
But what about the spiritual lemons in life? Those times in life when bad stuff comes our way, when it seems that it’s pointless carrying on because things only seem to get worse.
Joseph was human and maybe at times felt this way. Maybe he even felt like giving up at times. But he didn’t and because of his faith God blessed him and turned his morning into laughter, his frustration into joy, his hopelessness into hope realized.
There are so many examples I could use to illustrate this but maybe the best examples is the one we live. I, like millions of people all over the world, have a faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. Becoming a Christian is by far the best thing I have ever done, but my decision to follow Christ did not stop me from getting life-lemons once in a while.
In fact, I’ve had a lot of lemons, as many of us have, but it’s what we choose to do with the lemons that will make the difference. Will we hold on tightly to our lemons collecting more and more as life goes on… or will we let them go and allow God into our life knowing that He can take these lemons and make them into the sweetest lemonade we have ever tasted?
Psalm 30: 1-5 & 11-12
1 I will exalt you, O LORD,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 O LORD my God, I called to you for help
and you healed me.
3 O LORD, you brought me up from the grave;
you spared me from going down into the pit.
4 Sing to the LORD, you saints of his;
praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.
11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
